I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. By the time you have fixed all the crap and spent all the money you could have been boating on a nice one.

Even starting with a "nice one" you will be staggered by the amount of work a nice one needs. If the deck bungs are out it means the decks are very thin and can't be fixed, they must be replaced.

It took me two weeks of daily work to redo the finish on the outside teak and I only put on 4 coats. My boat was already in good to excellent condition and it was 10' shorter than this one.

Walk away.

I appreciate the straightforward recommendations… I've been more three boats down from her for six years… She's been flirting with me. So if I pay 15-20K for her. Figured 20K-30K in repairs. How much is she worth?? Of course this is with functional inspected fuel tanks that are not rusted and deck repairs.

...Of course this is with functional inspected fuel tanks that are not rusted and deck repairs.

See if you can gain access to the inside of one tank. Is there an inspection port? Tanks can leak from the inside out also. If there's any water, gunk and sludge on the inside bottom, they can leak from pit corrosion.

yeah, here's the thing. If I am reading this right, the boat hasn't moved from a covered slip in 6 years. My bet is that as soon as you are out in a strong rain, it will rain inside as well. No damage just means no rain, but I could be wrong.

You most likely are wrong. This is a GB we are talking about. Not your average "leaky teaky".

Everyone is so helpful I very much appreciate it. If you're ever in Lake of the Ozarks Missouri I will take you out boating. I'm in love with this vessel but I don't need Tough Love! ;>)

***Peter B or anyone- I have detailed pictures if anyone wants to help further I can email you pictures of the deck interior or anything else…
Grateful Dreamer Scotty

Scotty, if the pics are on the computer, then just post them on here, so we can all give our cent's worth of advice. Just go advanced, down to manage attachments, and basically follow the prompts re choosing the pics you want - (Choose takes you to your browser), then select, you can do several at a time, but make sure you go down to the bottom of the window where the file names of the pics are listed to select upload or whatever it says, and be patient and wait for the whole pic upload to complete (on Mac I watch the blue line going across at top of window - in Windows it might be the hourglass or spinning circle), before you close the pic select window, and select the submit reply button.

Before you jump into this obvious quagmire, take a few weekends and look at vessels around St Charles. There are many nice marinas there with all sorts of vessels that have been fresh water kept, well maintained and under cover for their entire lives.

The vessel you have described sounds really scary, unless you have a big barn, wood shop, mechanical skills, upholstery experience and deep pockets. And not to mention, lots of free time.

I appreciate the straightforward recommendations… I've been more three boats down from her for six years… She's been flirting with me. So if I pay 15-20K for her. Figured 20K-30K in repairs. How much is she worth?? Of course this is with functional inspected fuel tanks that are not rusted and deck repairs.

Sounds like you are smitten with this boat. Nothing wrong with that. Kind of like falling in love with a drug addicted prostitute with 5 kids. Lots of work, but could be wonderful in the end.

If I recall, this boat has been sitting for a long time? I would low-ball an offer on the boat. Figure out what moorage and insurance is costing the owner every month and then remind them of that. If the boat is never used, then they likely are at the point where they just want to get rid of it before it becomes an even bigger liability.

Do your best to get an idea of what all the necessary restoration work is. New tanks, new decks, replaced windows, revamped electrical etc.... Then figure out what it would cost to pay someone to do all that work. Then price out another GB that doesn't need that work done (ie has already had it done). The difference between the two is what you should pay (or the owner should pay you to take it off their hands).

I know that you are planning on doing much of the work yourself, but your time has value as well.

Scotty, if the pics are on the computer, then just post them on here, so we can all give our cent's worth of advice. Just go advanced, down to manage attachments, and basically follow the prompts re choosing the pics you want - (Choose takes you to your browser), then select, you can do several at a time, but make sure you go down to the bottom of the window where the file names of the pics are listed to select upload or whatever it says, and be patient and wait for the whole pic upload to complete (on Mac I watch the blue line going across at top of window - in Windows it might be the hourglass or spinning circle), before you close the pic select window, and select the submit reply button.

Discouraged; kids that inherited are asking 100k. I figure it's worth 20 to 40. They've been paying doc fees since 09. I offered 30 will see if any offers come in for him

We found our 42' GB in 2010. It was an estate sale and had been sitting for at least two years in Kemah Texas. They were asking 149k. We made an offer of 78k in Feb. no response so we continued to make same offer every week in writing. Finally we got a response that there was a mortgage of 120k. We went back at our 78k and suggested a short sale solution. Attorneys for trust talked to bank and in April, 2010 we bought our boat for 78k. That gave us plenty of room to hit the needed upgrades. By the way ours is hull #731. We have a lot of upgrades over these past six years including rebuilding the 453 Detroit diesels. Teak deck is coming off this Fall and alwgrip going down. We have taken her from Kemah to Key West and back to our home port on dauphin island , al. They do have good bones and can darn well be worth saving. A love of labor, yes, but could well be worth it in the end. Hope you can keep at them and win the battle at a good price for you.

Sounds familiar to me. The CHB I got this early spring had been sitting around not being used much for the same reason, owner passed and the kids got it and didn't really care about it but had an inflated idea of its value based largely on memory as kids when the old man kept it up. Lots less money than you are talking about but even that I made an offer, they said no, I upped it 5K and got the boat. Should have gotten it for less than my first offer in reality!! Ah boats!

All GB teak decks use millions of screws to fasten the teak overlay onto the fiberglass deck. Loss of bungs in the deck almost always means that water has gotten into the fiberglass deck and most likely caused delamination of the deck. Repairing this is a BIG job. Pay the money for a good survey. If you decide not to buy the boat the survey will be the best money you ever spent on a boat.
Good Luck!
Oldersalt